Simbisai Machava (61) a farmer from Mwenezi district says small-scale farmers of Mwenezi district are food secure despite the El Niño induced drought that devastated the 2023/2024 Zimbabwe farming season, causing a national state of disaster.
Simbisai made these remarks following the Mwenezi district food and seed festival which was attended by 200 exhibitors and over 500 farmers from all over Mwenezi who displayed, shared, exchanged, and traded a diversity of Agroecological produce and seeds.
“Mwenezi district which is naturally a very hot and dry place, experienced even more severe conditions as a result of the drought. However, farmers who practiced Agroecology still managed enough food to eat and this event is a testament to that,” she says.
“The festival is very important for our district because we get to share, exchange, trade seed and enhance our knowledge of resilient Agroecology practices. This is reason why farmers who are here are not crying about food insecurity as others,” adds Martin Vunganai (39) another farmer from Mwenezi.
Mwenezi farmers are working with Mwenezi Development Training Centre (MDTC), a member of PELUM Zimbabwe. Emilda Chinoda (35), the Programmes Manager for MDTC says the aim of holding festivals is strengthen resilience of farmers
“Our main aim was to encourage farmers to come together and share ideas on sustainable agricultural practices. Through these festivals, farmers are teaching each other and food security is improving among farmers,” she says.
Simbisai, who has been participating in the district food and seed festivals annually as well as the National Good Seed and Food Festivals, says she is now food and nutrition secure as a result of participating in these activities.
“Participating in these district and national seed and food festivals has equipped me with knowledge on seed management and food security. I can confidently say that I am now food and nutrition secure since I started participating in these festivals,” she says.
The district food and seed festivals are being coordinated by PELUM Zimbabwe through partners under the Zimbabwe Seed Sovereignty Programme (ZSSP) so as to increase reach to more farmers as not everyone can participate in the National festival held in Harare annually.
